USAA, Amica Lead in Policyholder Security

USAA received the highest online policyholder security rating based on a new report from Corporate Insight, titled “Login Security: Keeping Policyholder Information Safe.” Amica received marks just short of USAA’s while Progressive was cited just behind Amica. Best practices offered by the research firm were for insurers to offer login access throughout the company website, provide additional security options, provide easily accessible security information and provide users with the option to set security questions.

The three categories involved in the evaluation were accessibility, login process/security features and resources.

For the first category, Corporate Insight related strong results; all but three of the firms researched offer homepage login links, yet, two firms allow bill pay without login—only a policy number, zip code and one other policy detail are needed.

Only USAA and Amica were cited as offering two-factor authentication. The report outlines Amica’s strategy of employing separate pages for entering a user name/password and a user-specified security image in the login process. Meanwhile, USAA clients enter their user name and password on one page, and are also required to enter a pre-set PIN before accessing their account. Earlier this year, USAA also garnered a No. 1 ranking on a consumer trust list.

The report emphasizes this because most banks and brokerages use similar two-factor tactics. Also, aside from two-factor authentication, “firms rarely provide security measures that clients can see”; four firms (GEICO, The Hartford, MetLife and Nationwide) require users to specific a policy type when logging in and four firms (The Hartford, Nationwide, Progressive and Travelers) remind users to close the browser after logging out.

About half of the firms provide policyholders with a description of internal security measures, a disappointingly low number according to Corporate Insight, which claims that the information is oftentimes difficult for users to find.